


Red-Haired Flights Of Fancy

by ScarletCorvid



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 07:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12501748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletCorvid/pseuds/ScarletCorvid
Summary: AD Skinner knows that Mulder and Scully are soulmates, but sometimes he can't help but think of what might have been.





	Red-Haired Flights Of Fancy

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the 'spoiler' circulating in October 2017 about the Season 11 fight between Skinner and Mulder.

Walter Skinner contemplated the case file in front of him. It had been so long since he'd seen an X-File that he scarely knew how to react. The division had been shut down for fourteen years. Agents Mulder and Scully had been forced into hiding for the first six of those years before reaching a deal with the government to save their lives. But they hadn't returned to the FBI as he had hoped they would, instead they would go on living their lives for eight more years before making their return.

He'd implored Mulder to do something about the lies and the truths being hidden and Mulder had. The X-Files were reopened and he now found himself reading his first field report from Mulder and Scully in almost a decade and a half. 

Skinner had been honest with Mulder, that there hadn't been a day he hadn't wished the the pair of paranormal seeking agents were still downstairs during their long absence. But he found himself with mixed feelings about their return. No, not really their return. He welcomed that gladly after everything he'd seen as their supervisior. Someone had to take the men lurking in the shadows down, and it had always seemed like Mulder's destiny to do it.

With Scully at his side, of course.

Now there was the problem he was having. Well, not really a problem, just a general feeling of aggravation after seeing the skeptical redhead again after so many years. Not at Scully, she hadn't done anything wrong. She had hesistant at first to come back to the FBI. No, the problem was with her partner. 

It wasn't his right to even consider an agent's personal life unless they were doing something illegal, dangerous, or against the FBI code of ethics. However, Skinner had long ago made that leap with Mulder and Scully. He considered them both dear friends. Which made the revelation he had after their first case debriefing in years all that more difficult. What he was feeling was irrational and most likely out of line. But he couldn't stop feeling it, so it had to be dealt with. 

Think it over. Dismantle it. Throw it away. Don't look back on it. 

Dana Scully was an amazing woman. She was beautiful, intelligent, and strong. He'd seen her take on men twice her size and she'd pulled a gun on him several times. When it came to the pair, he honestly saw her as the tougher of the two. She also had good common sense. Most of all, he liked her. When she wasn't being skeptical, she had a wonderful wit and a caring heart, even if she sometimes came off to others as aloof. 

Who wouldn't carry a torch if they knew someone like her?

Granted, it had never lead him to consider cheating on his late wife, nor had it prevented him from seeking relationships of his own. But a little part of him had been in love with Special Agent Dana Scully for over two decades. And up until recently, he'd always laughed at the foolishness of it. Anyone with eyes could see that Mulder and Scully were soulmates.

But things had changed after the agents went on the run. Mulder had grown more paranoid, becoming depressed and withdrawn. Some might have thought it cruel for Scully to leave him, especially after all they'd been through, but Skinner understood it. She'd lost so much to follow Mulder in pursuit of his truth, and still he put the truth over her. 

Skinner had no doubt that Mulder loved Scully, that he did see her as his soulmate, but he had become very selfish in recent years. After the loss of their son, what Scully had wanted was something approaching a normal life. There could have been ways to compromise, to give her stability and to let him keep chasing his truth. But Mulder hadn't been able to find it. 

And then seeing her earlier today, after years apart, Skinner couldn't help but think about the 'what ifs.' Scully had never shown the slightest interest in him beyond friendship, but if he hadn't been so convinced that Mulder valued her above all other things, he might have tried to see if she could see him in a new light. Now, when he saw her looking tired after arguing conspiracy with Mulder, he almost wished he had. 

Maybe she never would have had a baby, but they could have adopted. He could have made her happy, he liked to believe. They could have had a house and two cars in the garage and all the normalcy she could stand. She would have been able to stay with the FBI or practice medicine, wherever her passions lie. And he would take good care of her, making sure she was always loved and respected.

Sure, it was all a fantasy and it was impossible not to see that Mulder and Scully had a deep love for each other even now, after they'd spent a few years apart. But he couldn't help but wonder at what point Mulder would realize the beautiful things around him instead of always searching for a truth that he might never be allowed to hold in his hand. 

It was sad, really. The aggravation was slowly starting to be replaced with a sense of pity for a man so caught up in his cruesade he would bury himself with it. 

And maybe that's where Scully came in. Mulder needed her to save him, as always, not just from the dangers of the knowledge he sought, but from himself. It had to be a frusterating job for her, but there was no doubt that the love between them was mutually strong and she would go to the ends of the earth for him. And Mulder would do the same for her, even if he let his great quest get in the way of giving her a normal life.

Skinner looked at his watched and shook his head. It was time to head home, to his own life, and to stop thinking about his agents. Torch or not, Mulder and Scully belonged together. And even if he spent one afternoon ruminating on what could have been, he felt lucky that he got to come along for the ride. That was more interesting than any flight of fancy. And he had the bullet scar to prove it.


End file.
